Visuospatial working memory deficits and visual pursuit impairments are not directly related in schizophrenia

Cocchi, Luca; Bosisio, Francesca; Carter, Olivia; Wood, Stephen J.; Berchtold, André; Conus, Philippe; Orita, Alina; Debbané, Martin; Schenk, Françoise

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Title		Visuospatial working memory deficits and visual pursuit impairments are not directly related in schizophrenia
Authors		Cocchi, Luca Bosisio, Francesca Carter, Olivia Wood, Stephen J. Berchtold, André Conus, Philippe Orita, Alina Debbané, Martin Schenk, Françoise show all authors [1 - 9]
Published in		Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 2009, vol. 43, no. 8, p. 766-774
Abstract		OBJECTIVE: Patients with schizophrenia show deficits in visuospatial working memory and visual pursuit processes. It is currently unclear, however, whether both impairments are related to a common neuropathological origin. The purpose of the present study was therefore to examine the possible relations between the encoding and the discrimination of dynamic visuospatial stimuli in schizophrenia. METHOD: Sixteen outpatients with schizophrenia and 16 control subjects were asked to encode complex disc displacements presented on a screen. After a delay, participants had to identify the previously presented disc trajectory from a choice of six static linear paths, among which were five incorrect paths. The precision of visual pursuit eye movements during the initial presentation of the dynamic stimulus was assessed. The fixations and scanning time in definite regions of the six paths presented during the discrimination phase were investigated. RESULTS: In comparison with controls, patients showed poorer task performance, reduced pursuit accuracy during incorrect trials and less time scanning the correct stimulus or the incorrect paths approximating its global structure. Patients also spent less time scanning the leftmost portion of the correct path even when making a correct choice. The accuracy of visual pursuit and head movements, however, was not correlated with task performance. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides direct support for the hypothesis that active integration of visuospatial information within working memory is deficient in schizophrenia. In contrast, a general impairment of oculomotor mechanisms involved in smooth pursuit did not appear to be directly related to lower visuospatial working memory performance in schizophrenia.
Keywords		Encoding — Eye movements — Schizophrenia — Visual pursuit — Working memory
Identifiers		DOI: 10.1080/00048670903001901 PMID: 19629799
Full text		Article (Published version) (188 Kb) - Limited access to UNIGE
Structures		Faculté de psychologie et des sciences de l'éducation / Section de psychologie
Research group		Unité de psychologie clinique de l'adolescence (UPCA)
Citation (ISO format)		COCCHI, Luca et al. Visuospatial working memory deficits and visual pursuit impairments are not directly related in schizophrenia. In: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 2009, vol. 43, n° 8, p. 766-774. https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:5350